Pentek PCC-218 Scale Reduction Filter Video Transcript

Hey everyone, Aquaman here with FilterDoctor.com. Today we’re looking at the Pentek PCC-218. This is an industry standard size cartridge, approximately 10 inches long by 2 ½ inches in diameter, which means it’s going to fit into a vast array of industry standard size filter housings, like for example, the popular Pentek 158642 that you see here.

Now, the PCC-218 is a hexametaphosphate scale reducing filter. Now, there’s a lot of difficult science involved here to explain this, but the best way for me to describe it is, it’s kind of like a water softener. That’s not what’s really going on but that’s the best way for you to relate to it. What’s really happening is this filter is not removing anything from the water like a typical filter. It’s actually adding a small amount of food grade hexametaphosphate into the water, and that phosphate bonds with the various minerals in your water; things like calcium, magnesium and iron. It makes it difficult for those minerals to bond to one another and for them to precipitate out of solution and form scale. It also coats the metal surfaces of your plumbing inside the pipes, and your faucets, and on your shower head; making it difficult for the minerals to bond to those surfaces, forming scale. Now, it’s not a 100% perfect solution for everyone, it’s only good in situations under 15 grains per gallon of hardness, or situations with less than 1 part per million of iron. If you’re above those levels, you need to get into a sodium ion exchange water softener, because that’s the only thing that’s going to fix levels above those numbers I just mentioned. Now the only difference between the PCC-218, this cartridge, and the PCC-212 is the amount of hexametaphosphate beads inside of the cartridge. This filter, the 218, has more than double the amount of hexametaphosphate in the cartridge, so it will add a higher dose of phosphate into the water more rapidly than the PCC-212 will. If you don’t want this high a dose, then you need to look into the PCC-212.

Now, determining filter life is very difficult because it’s going to depend on your unique circumstances. High levels of hardness, high levels of iron and heavy water usage are going to cause the hexametaphosphate to deplete much more rapidly than otherwise. So, I strongly recommend that this cartridge be installed in a filter housing with a clear sump, because then you can visually inspect the level of the beads. You can hear them; and through a clear sump you’ll be able to visually see them and know when you’re getting low on hexametaphosphate and then replace the cartridge. Again, this is a scale reducing filter, it is the Pentek PCC-218, and I’m your host Aquaman with FilterDoctor.com. Thanks for watching.